Emotional Peace

Description

The following article was written by Gwen Randall-Young. Gwen is an
author and psychotherapist in private practice. For more articles
and information on her books and CDs go to www.gwen.ca.

Emotional Peace

Go slowly, breathe, and smile.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The most valuable commodity in the world is inner peace. Health, wealth,
fame or fortune cannot be enjoyed or appreciated when life is filled with
emotional turbulence. Yet, we are human, and things happen in life.

Sometimes, despite our best intentions, determination, and affirmations, we
find ourselves caught up in an emotional reaction to a person or situation.
If only things would just turn out right, and people would behave as
expected, then we could be at peace, or so we think. The problem with this
thinking is that we are waiting for things to be peaceful on the outside
before we can be peaceful on the inside. Actually, it works the other way
around. When we create stillness and calm within, then our lives become more
peaceful. Emotional upset occurs when things do not go the way we want them
to. Struggle is created when we try to make things go the way we want them
to.

Emotional peace, on the other hand, comes when we learn to accept things as
they are, and let go of our need to control them. Of course this does not
mean that we put up with abuse or inappropriate behavior. It does mean that
we are more accepting of things we cannot change, more respectful of
boundaries (ours and others), and more realistic.

Sometimes we just have to accept people and situations as they are, and
sometimes we have to bless them and move on. If we know a situation or
relationship is not good for us, we cannot hope to find peace until we do
something about it. In the meantime, we can still cultivate emotional peace.
Imagine a beautiful, peaceful sanctuary. Think of it as a safe, healing
place. Hold it in your consciousness, perhaps in your heart, and, quieting
the mind, go there regularly. When you practice this often, you come to know
that peace is always a choice. You can always tell yourself, a well of peace
exists within me, and I can choose to be there any time.

Emotional turbulence is generally fuelled by thoughts, so if we just stop
the thoughts for a time and drop into this peaceful space, we see that it is
the ego-mind that is having the problem. Without the thoughts, peace
returns. Achieving emotional peace does not mean that everything in life has
finally settled into a state of perfection. Nothing does. It means that we
have freed ourselves from the entrapment of the mind, we are no longer held
hostage by our thoughts. We can observe them, see them for what they are,
and then let them go.

We will still have to deal with the stuff of life, but then we can step back
into our place of peace. Practice this, and notice how much more peaceful
your life becomes, both inside and out.